A Generation That Has Lost Its Desperation
2 Kings 2:9 “When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Ask me what I should do with you before I am taken away from you.’ Elisha said, ‘Let a double portion of your Spirit be upon me.’”
These days, there are many parents whose children remain single and unmarried even in their 30s and 40s. Their consistent concern is, “When will those kids(?) find a partner and get married?”
However, the cause of the problem is simple. It is because young people of today’s generation do not feel a desperate need for marriage. If they felt it desperately, they would do it.
The marriage story of Kim Ji-yoon, a Christian dating coaching instructor, resonates deeply with the younger generation. Until the age of 29, she was a young woman who had never been in a relationship (born single) and had only attended church diligently.
She was a small, ordinary woman who had never once been asked out by a man. However, as she gradually became an older spinster, she says she began hearing people around her frequently say, “Your standards are too high!” However, she thought she simply hadn’t met her soulmate yet. Then, one day, when her closest friend got married, she asked her friend with a desperate heart how she could get married.
Her friend’s answer was very “religious.” “Have you ever prayed until the floorboards of your room were worn down?” Those words changed Sister Kim Ji-yeon’s perspective. She realized that she was not, in fact, “desperate” for marriage.
Even when she prayed for a spouse, she had never prayed so earnestly that the floorboards were worn down. From then on, she repeated to herself, “I am not in a position to have high standards,” and simply prayed to meet a partner quickly, asking that any ordinary man would suffice.
Then, she met an old neighborhood friend at church and actively reached out to him. First, she asked people around him what style of woman he liked.
Having received information that he liked women who dressed well, she threw away all the clothes she owned, bought a few new outfits in styles she had never worn before, and lingered around him.
Eventually, the brother fell for this sister and asked her to be his girlfriend. As soon as she heard those words, she answered without hesitation, “Yes!” and she married the man she first met in that way, and they are still living happily together to this day.
Whatever you desire, if you want it, you must desire it “desperately.” Only then will you put your hand to the plow and never look back. Teaching this very “desperation” is the lesson of the story of the “double portion of inspiration” that Elisha asked for.
Elijah, who had fulfilled a difficult mission as God’s prophet during the era of Ahab, the most wicked king in Israel’s history, had reached the end of his time, and God had decided to take him to the Kingdom of Heaven.
However, the tactless Elisha clung to Elijah, wanting to accompany him. Feeling perplexed, Elijah tried to separate this stubborn disciple, Elisha. Yet, Elisha displayed an unyielding tenacity.
To Elisha, Elijah asked, “What do you want from me?” At this, Elisha replied, “Let a double portion of the work of your Holy Spirit be upon me!” Elisha did not make this request with the intention of receiving twice as much power as Elijah and enjoying double the glory. He grasped Elijah out of a sense of his own weakness and a desperate need to risk his life.
This very same desperation appears throughout the Bible. Although countless crowds surrounded Jesus and touched Him, the only one who was truly healed by His power was the woman who had suffered from a hemorrhage for twelve years.
What made that difference? It was desperation. That woman had no other choice. That is why she risked her life, pushing through the crowd with her frail body to touch Jesus.
That desperate faith enabled her to experience the power of Jesus. The Psalms also speak of desperation: “As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for You” (Psalm 42:1-2).
This was precisely the kind of desperation Elisha possessed. If you stand at a distance and merely watch like the other disciples, nothing will happen, no matter how much biblical knowledge you possess or how many years you have held the faith.
The same is true today. Countless people attend church. However, simply attending church does not mean everyone receives the same grace and the same blessings. What we need right now is precisely this kind of desperation.
Things may work out well even without earnest prayer. When that happens, since it did not come about through prayer to God, people tend to think of it as their own doing rather than God’s doing.
Then, that good fortune does not help their faith much; instead, it only leads to increasing pride. It is a false blessing and false peace of a “generation that has lost its desperation.” Now, we too must ask ourselves:
How desperate is my prayer?
How earnestly and with a humble heart am I clinging to God?
We must cast aside worldly desires,
but we must harbor spiritual desires.
O God,
Let us realize that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who strive for it,
and let us seek it with a desperate heart.
Let us become poor in spirit.
Let us become spiritually rich.
I pray in the name of Jesus Christ.
Heavenly Love Song (Pastor Jang Eun-kyung, Washington Heavenly Vision Church)
